Health & Wellness
The gut health boosting effects of probiotics may also extend to preventing and eradicating parasitic infections.
Scientists studying Toxoplasma gondii, the parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis, found that bacteria present in the human gut help stimulate the body's defense mechanisms. Probiotics may occupy space in the intestine and thus reduce or prevent potentially pathogenic bacteria attaching to the intestinal wall.
Sources:
NutraIngredients.com August 20, 2009
A pair of studies on autism rates show that somewhere around one percent of all U.S. children currently have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The rate is even higher among 6 to 11 year olds and among boys.
Among all children aged two to 17, one in 100 currently have an ASD, which is considerably higher than the previously estimated rate of one in 150. There was a 100 percent increase in parent-reported ASD rates compared to 2003.
One possible explanation for some of the increase is the expansion of the ASD classification within the public schools to include not only full-blown autism, but also milder forms of ASD such as Pervasive Developmental Disorder and Asperger's Syndrome. But it is difficult to believe that this accounts for the entire increase.
One possible answer is the Hepatitis B vaccine, which also contained 25 micrograms of mercury containing thimerosal. Only 8 percent of infant children received the Hep B vaccine in 1992, when that birth cohort showed an ASD rate of 60 per 10,000.
U.S. colleges with the biggest student drinking problems have so far failed to turn the tide, according to a new study.
The research, published in the September issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, found that at 18 heavy-drinking U.S. campuses, students' alcohol habits showed little change over a dozen years. In 1993, 58 percent of students reported binge drinking in the past two weeks; in 2005, 56 percent said the same. And although 28 percent of students in 1993 said they frequently binged, that figure was 32 percent in 2005.
The study did not look at what, if any, measures the colleges had taken to combat student drinking. But whatever they might have done has apparently not been enough, according to lead researcher Toben F. Nelson, Sc.D., an assistant professor of epidemiology and community health at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Traffic noise raises blood pressure. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health have found that people exposed to high levels of noise from nearby roads are more likely to report suffering from hypertension.
Theo Bodin worked with a team or researchers from Lund University Hospital, Sweden, to investigate the association between living close to noisy roads and having raised blood pressure. He said: "Road traffic is the most important source of community noise. Non-auditory physical health effects that are biologically plausible in relation to noise exposure include changes in blood pressure, heart rate, and levels of stress hormones. We found that exposure above 60 decibels was associated with high blood pressure among the relatively young and middle-aged, an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke."
© Ross Catrow
Blueberries and other foods rich in flavonoids can help stave off dementia, researchers say.
A blueberry smoothie at breakfast can stop your powers of concentration waning in the afternoon - and even help fight dementia in the long term, new research suggests.
Scientists have found that the food can increase your attention span in the short term and can maintain a healthy mind in the long term.
They found that just one 200g blueberry smoothie was enough to increase powers of concentration by as much as 20 per cent over the day.
Regular consumption of the fruit could lead to a rewiring of a part of the brain that is linked to memory.
The findings of the study, reported at the British Science Festival, add to the growing reputation of blueberries as the super-food of super-foods.
Kim Delvaux was undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor when doctors at Loyola University Hospital woke her up.
Dr. Vikram Prabhu talked to her about her favorite topics -- NASCAR and her kids.
"I can remember two distinct conversations," said Delvaux, who lives in Downers Grove. "My friends can't believe it, but it's true."
While she was awake, Prabhu gently probed brain tissue surrounding the tumor. If this affected Delvaux's ability to speak or move, Prabhu would avoid those areas when he later removed the tumor. "We call these areas "No Fly Zones,'" he said.
Julia Medew
The AgeFri, 11 Sep 2009 06:13 UTC
Trying to decide whether a dog or cat will protect you from allergies? New research says you should live with both.
A team of New Zealand researchers who tracked more than 1000 people over 30 years found those who lived with dogs and cats for significant periods of time were less likely to develop allergies, compared with those who lived with either a dog or a cat.
Using skin-prick tests to measure reactions to common allergens, they found that 35 per cent of children with both pets had developed allergies by age 13. This compared with 43 per cent of those with no pets and 52 per cent of those who had either a dog or a cat.
"The reduction in risk among those with cats and dogs was not specific to animal allergens but included multiple allergens, including house dust mite and grass," said the researchers, who included Professor Malcolm Sear of the University of Otago in Dunedin.
Amy Norton
ReutersFri, 11 Sep 2009 04:40 UTC
"Oh, my aching back!" may be heard less frequently as people with chronic lower back pain find some relief from a therapeutic form of yoga, a new study suggests.
Yoga is often promoted as a way to ease lower back pain and other chronic body aches, but there have been few rigorously conducted studies on the subject.
For the current study, published in the journal Spine, researchers randomly assigned 90 adults (average age 48, range 18-70) with chronic lower back pain to either stay with conventional care or take six months of Iyengar-style yoga classes.
Julie Steenhuysen
ReutersFri, 11 Sep 2009 04:37 UTC
Scientists have discovered how bacteria fend off a wide range of antibiotics, and blocking that defense mechanism could give existing antibiotics more power to fight dangerous infections.
Researchers at New York University said on Thursday that bacteria produce certain nitric oxide-producing enzymes to resist antibiotics.
Drugs that inhibit these enzymes can make antibiotics much more potent, making even deadly superbugs like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA succumb, they said.
Scientists have more evidence that a common sexually transmitted infection may increase the risk of advanced prostate cancer.
Previous research has suggested that an infection known as trichomoniasis might increase the risk for prostate cancer, which is the second most common cancer and cause of cancer death among men.
In the new study, Jennifer Stark of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues analyzed blood samples from 673 men with prostate cancer who participated in the Physicians' Health Study, a large, ongoing study examining a variety of health issues. Compared to 673 similar men who did not develop prostate cancer, those with the infection were more than twice as likely to develop prostate cancer that was advanced when it was diagnosed a decade later and nearly three times as likely to get a lethal case, the researchers reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
